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The San Jose Sharks came up short against the Toronto Maple Leafs in the second half of their back-to-back last night, losing 3-1.
With James Reimer injured and Kaapo Kahkonen having played on Tuesday against the Montreal Canadiens, Aaron Dell (who was called up from the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda) got the start.
Prior to the game, there was also a 21-second moment of silence for Borje Salming, who passed away last week after a battle with ALS.
The game opened with a pretty exciting first period, featuring some really good chances going both ways. The Sharks only had seven shots but had a few really good opportunities off the rush (most notably a breakaway for Noah Gregor) – however, they couldn’t convert and the game remained scoreless through 20 minutes.
Auston Matthews opened the scoring a few minutes into the second period, taking a pass from Mac Hollowell and redirecting the puck past Dell. Only a few minutes later though, Logan Couture avoided a check behind the Leafs' net and got the puck out front to Matt Nieto, who put it through Ilya Samsonov to tie the game. San Jose took a couple penalties after that but did manage to kill them off, as they went into the intermission at 1-1.
San Jose did a really good job limiting chances for most of the final frame, giving the Leafs little to work with. However, they ended up shorthanded late and despite some big saves from Dell, Pierre Engvall ended up burying a rebound about a minute after the penalty expired to put Toronto ahead. Mitch Marner then scored on an empty net with about a minute remaining (tying a Leafs’ franchise record for longest point streak), as San Jose fell 3-1.
Despite being outshot 32-24, it wasn’t a poor effort from the Sharks. They kept up for most of the night and had more quality chances off the rush than Toronto did, but just couldn’t manage to capitalize.
Aaron Dell was a nice surprise as well, putting together a really good outing after being called up. After spending four seasons with the Sharks between 2016 and 2020, he played well in his first NHL game of the season, despite the loss.
Also, Matt Nieto has now quietly scored six goals already this season, which ties the six goals he scored over 70 games last season. Ideally, he shouldn’t be playing more than a bottom-six role but he’s been a consistent depth forward for the team over the last few years.
Especially for playing on the road against a hot team in the second half of a back-to-back, this was a decent outing for the Sharks. San Jose will be back in action on Saturday, when they face the Ottawa Senators.
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